Gettysburg Trip Day 1

Gettysburg Trip Day 1 
7/19/14

We decided to go to Gettysburg on a whim Friday night before the weekend. We didn't have any plans and by some weird coincidence we both were thinking the same thing, that is Hubby and I without even talking beforehand had Gettysburg on our minds. And with our heads on the same page, Hubby did some research on some cheap bids for hotels on Priceline and went from there. Our first bid of $60 for a 3 star hotel, was accepted so Gettysburg was definitely where we would be heading for the weekend. I love how Priceline can give great deals. We scored staying at the Courtyard Marriot!

We left around 9:30am Saturday morning and got in around noon at Gettysburg, about a 2 and a half hour drive from Princeton. Just in time for lunch. We grabbed a quick lunch at the Golden Arches or Old McDonald as my 3 year old calls it, and then headed straight to 
the Gettysburg National Military Park Museum & Visitor Center. There is a lot you can do at the Park Museum & Visitor Center. Adults (12+) can pay $12.50 that includes a Film, Cyclorama, and Museum Experience. Kids 6-12 are $8.50. We opted out on that part as the kids won't really appreciate staying at a museum for hours at their age. You can also get a car tour with a licensed Battlefield Guide for $65 but didn't do that as well (need to reserve at least 3 days before visit). We got the map for the Self-guiding Auto Tour and were on our way.

On the drive down, Hubby had found some free Civil War Podcasts online and downloaded the ones that had to do with Gettysburg and listened to them on the drive. He was basically our tour guide and did an awesome job! The Self-guiding Auto Tour has a specific order, but we went to the places we wanted to hit on the first day and did not follow the route in order.

The first place we hit was the Pennsylvania Memorial. It's the white structure below. It's pretty neat as you can walk up a bunch of stairs to reach the top that has an observation type lookout. 

Pretty close to the Pennsylvania Memorial were people dressed in Civil War attire and they were playing music. At one point I even heard Yankee Doodle Dandy, it was pretty neat listening and seeing how it was back in the 1800s. They had camp set up with their tents and you could ask questions if you wanted.

Lots of cannons surrounding the battle field. One of the many pics I got of a cannon.

Our next stop was Little Round Top. It's nice because here, we were lucky and listened in on a Bus Tour group's guide talking about what happened there. Below is another memorial shaped like a castle. You can enter it and climb up the stairs to the top. 

View from Little Round Top down to Devil's Den.

Enjoyed the little trails we could explore.

Devil's Den was one of my favorite spots because of all the cool rocks you can climb and just hang out on. 

There is definitely a lot to see and learn about when visiting Gettysburg! We didn't even see it all.

For dinner, we went into town and tried out Hunt's Cafe. Tim had seen good reviews on Yelp, so we tried it out. The food was great, but the wait was kinda long. That was the only bad thing about the place, otherwise I recommend it.

For dessert, we walked over to Mr. G's for ice cream. Great stuff! I loved how it was home made ice cream. 

After all the yummy food, we headed back to our hotel and tried out the pool. :) Then finally rested up for our next day visiting the Battlefield and other parts of the park we did not get to see.